Improvements in the dimensional accuracy of a manufacturing process are an objective of every manufacturing facility. Statistical quality control has made use of geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) with a focus on various datums or relevant features of a workpiece. Rather than attempting to achieve dimensional accuracy of an entire workpiece, statistical quality control now focuses primarily on dimensional accuracy of various datums and relevant features of a workpiece.
Many large workpieces, such as, for example, components of heavy manufacturing equipment, require manual operations to assemble and apply various elements to the workpiece. Presently, most manufacturing facilities make use of physical templates to direct an operator to the location of the workpiece requiring a manufacturing operation be performed. However, physical templates fail to accurately locate multiple datums or relevant features on a workpiece when more than one surface or feature of the workpiece does not accurately reflect a computer model of the workpiece from which a physical template has been designed.
Furthermore, physical templates for use with large workpieces are large, cumbersome and heavy making the templates difficult, and sometimes dangerous, to move into and out of a manufacturing workspace. Still further, physical templates must be replaced or reworked when a workpiece has been modified or redesigned. This is expensive, time consuming, and known to cause delays when implementing new product designs.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a method of locating a template upon a workpiece that is not geometrically accurate relative to a computer model of the workpiece and aligning the template with relevant features or datums corresponding to a GD&T plan for manufacturing the workpiece.